Beschreibung:

Rossini, LuigiAntichità Romane ossia raccolta delle più interresanti vedute di Roma.Rome, presso l’autore, 1819-1823.
In-plano (780 x 545 mm), Maroquin rouge, roulette dorée en encadrement, dos lisse orné (Reliure de l’époque).
Premier tirage du chef-d’œuvre de Luigi Rossini Magnifique recueil provenant de la bibliothèque du château de Sassy.
101 eaux-fortes (dont un frontispice) représentant les joyaux de la Rome antique, par Luigi Rossini
Originaire de Ravenne, Luigi Rossini étudie à Bologne avec Antonio Basoli et Giovanni Antolini. Il se voue très vite à la gravure typographique destinée au marché touristique alors en plein essor. Largement inspiré par Piranèse, Rossini, dont le nom reste attaché à la Ville éternelle, déploie un sens aigu de l’observation faisant revivre les monuments et les sites archéologiques de la Rome antique.
"Like Giovanni Battista Piranesi Rossini was an observant topographer but also a scrupulous archaeologist; like Carlo Labruzzi he was also a neoclassicist. In Rossini's pictures the suffering humanity of Piranesi's views has disappeared. From Piranesi, Rossini takes precise topographic information, the understanding of ancient building materials, and knowledge of places. Piranesi's method of archaeological research is Rossini's principal cultural and artistic reference. Thus Rossini borrows from his predecessor the sotto-in-su views, and like Piranesi he assembles fragments of Roman architecture and inscriptions in an imaginative agglomerate. But Rossini also benefits from the extraordinary archaeological activity carried out by Giuseppe Valadier and others. The freshly uncovered monuments offered additional subjects to the topographic artists working in Rome […] The Antichità Romane marks a direct confrontation with Piranesi. In this work Rossini emancipates himself entirely while precisely quoting his predecessor in his title as well as in some of his captions". (Millard, Italian Books, p. 360-366).